X-Men Writer On Apocalypse Plot Twists, Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch And Much More (Exclusive)

Yahoo UK sat down with ‘X-Men’ writer and producer Simon Kinberg to ask him just a few of the hundreds of questions sent to us by fans.

Speaking to us for the DVD and Blu-ray launch of ‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’, he was expansive and very honest. He gave us an insight into some of the creative decisions and time traveling paradoxes thrown up by ‘DOFP’, and even spilled the beans on casting decisions currently being made for follow-up ‘Apocalypse’. Here’s a summary of the good stuff.

*SPOILERS AHEAD*

1. The correct chronological order of all the X-Men movies is…

- ‘X-Men: First Class’- The past part of ‘DOFP’- ‘X-Men Origins: Wolverine’- ‘X-Men’- ‘X2’- ‘X-Men: The Last Stand’- ‘The Wolverine’- The future part of ‘Days of Future Past’

2.DOFP means Jean Grey is still alive

“We changed the timeline for everything that came after ‘DOFP’ - so ‘X-Men 1’, 2 and 3, even ‘The Wolverine’. So Jean [Grey] was not killed in ‘Last Stand’, nor was Scott, and a whole lot of other things rippled.”

3. There’s a logical reason why Quicksilver wasn’t used for the rest of DOFP

“We didn’t use him because they were recruiting him for a specific mission: the prison break to get Magneto out of the Pentagon. The mission beyond that was much more personal: to save Raven, more spiritually than physically. [So Quicksilver] could’ve run in and grab her, but he wouldn’t have been able to change her mind.”

4. Magneto and Xavier have a truce at the end of DOFP

“At the end of the movie [Magneto] flies away without his helmet, with the implication that he’ll go off and continue to be Magneto in some form, but not be able to hide it from Charles, who‘ll be able to read his mind and track him. There’s a truce of some kind between Charles and Magneto, but there’s a part of Magneto that will always be the Magneto we know from the comics.

5. Wolverine will still get his adamantium claws

“We don’t see it because he doesn’t pop his claws at the end of the movie [but like with elements of the story] perhaps how he got his claws is different. But he lands ultimately in the same destination.

6. Why Rogue was cut

“We had a lot of story to tell. Anna was fantastic in the movie, I liked the stuff we shot with her, but in a movie that had a ton of plot and a ton of mutants to service, the Rogue plot, as you will eventually see, was a sub-plot. It was a deviation from the main story of the movie. We had to cut other scenes, other moments that we all loved. If it’s anybody’s fault, it’s mine, as I should’ve integrated her into the main story and I learned my lesson the hard way.

7. Mystique could still give birth to Nightcrawler

“Since Azazel was killed, does this mean that Mystique gave birth to Nightcrawler in the time between ‘First Class’ and ‘DOFP’? All I will say is that ten years transpired between ‘First Class’ and ‘DOFP’, so anything is possible. She’s a young woman in her 20s going on 30s… and I will leave it at that!”

8. Nightcrawler still exists in the new continuity

“I love what Bryan Singer and Alan Cumming did with him in ‘X2’. I certainly hope he exists. Nothing that we said or showed in ‘DOFP’ would indicate that he doesn’t.

9. Magneto is probably Quicksilver’s dad… and we might see this on film

“It is a fascinating relationship. Erik grew up without a family, it’s such a huge part of him, of his mission. So the idea of exploring what it means for Magneto to be a father and reconnect with a son many years after his birth, is fascinating and certainly something that would be interesting to explore in future films.

10. Professor X is alive and looks like Patrick Stewart in the future scenes of ‘Future Past’ because…

“I get asked this a lot! We tried to address this in a tag that we shot for Mangold’s ‘Wolverine’. If you stuck around to the end of ‘Last Stand’, there’s also some explanation for why the Professor X of the future looks like Patrick Stewart.

11. We won’t see Kitty Pryde or Bishop in ‘Apocalypse’

‘Apocalypse’ really follows the stories of the ‘First Class’ mutants, so in future X-Men films, perhaps, but in ‘Apocalypse’, it’ll really be the younger generations.

12. ‘Apocalypse’ will be the biggest X-Men film so far

“The ‘Apocalypse’ story is a bigger film in scope or scale and a more powerful villain than we have ever seen in these films before.”

13. He’d like to work on a sequel to ‘The Last Stand’

“I’m entirely focused on ‘Apocalypse’ and hopefully the best film in the franchise [but] it would be lovely to work with the original actors again. Perhaps, but right now it’s all ‘Apocalypse’.”

14. Psylocke was almost in DOFP… and could return for ‘Apocalypse’

“She’s a fan favourite, and also a favourite of mine. We have a small part that she plays in ‘Last Stand’, and we talked about including her in ‘DOFP’ quite seriously actually. There was a version of the script she was in and we even auditioned some actors in Montreal. But we didn’t feel there was enough of a part she would play in a movie that was already full of many, many mutants.

“She has a cool power. I know Bryan thinks she’s a neat character so there’s certainly a chance she’ll be in an ‘X-Men’ movie some day. Hopefully there’ll be a lot of ‘X-Men’ movies and there’s lot of mutants we’re yet to fully explore onscreen, even if they’ve had cameos before. Now we’re making more films there’s a chance to dig deeper.”

15. Scarlet Witch could also be in ‘Apocalypse’

“When we made ‘DOFP’ there is a reference to her in the scene when they’re at Quicksilver’s house, but we ended up pulling it out because like a lot of things it had to be sacrificed for the main momentum of the film. It’s a character we all love, because everyone loves Quicksilver so much. The more we can do to explore his family, the better. So maybe.

16. And so could Cable

“We also talked about including him in ‘DOFP’. I will say, we love the character, we’d love to find a place for him in these movies, but I cannot confirm or deny which characters will actually be in ‘Apocalypse’ until I read some spoilers!

17. The older generation will have to be recast, including Storm and Jean

“If we included some of the original X-Men, like Storm, Jean, Scott and others in ‘Apocalypse’, yeah we would have to recast them because ‘Apocalypse’ takes place a good 20 years before ‘X1’which now insanely is 10-15 years ago. It would be very hard to do. Halle [Berry], Famke [Janssen] and James [Marsden] have done such a wonderful job bringing those characters to life and have been so identified with the parts. It would be a tall task, but I also would’ve said before ‘First Class’ that there was no way we’d find actors to stand alongside Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart, and we did with Michael [Fassbender] and James [McAvoy]. Are we going to have to recast? If some of characters are in the movie, we would. But we shall wait and see.

18. Apocalypse will finish the ‘First Class’ trilogy

“The thrust of ‘Apocalypse’ is really to complete the trilogy we began with ‘First Class’ - to complete the stories of young Raven, young Hank, younger Charles and Erik. And complete this trilogy of four people who began the films sort of disparate and in different worlds…[and who] we’ve followed through the span of decades. So that’ll be the thrust. There will be familiar characters and new characters that we haven’t seen…ever…but it’ll be the completion of what we began in ‘First Class’.”